I ALWAYS thought SHA was recorded 16-track, but just found an article from early '75...Mr_Clifford wrote:Now I'm confused. I could have sworn that 'Sheer Heart Attack' & 'Night at the Opera' were recorded on 16 track.
Queen recorded "80% of the backing tracks" at Rockfield, Dave Edmunds' studio, which was 24-track at the time...overdubs done at Wessex and Air studio 4, which were both probably 16-track...
Mixed at Trident, which, in late 1974, was...well, read on! (the following material is quoted for educational purposes only!)
Deacon describes Trident mixes as "lovely" and even says some are "quite hairy". The latter remark comes from the fact of Trident "not being full 24 track when we mixed. We did in fact use several different machines. At one point we were using a 16 track with another Triad in front for rhythm section mixes."
Queen find 24 tracks sufficient and at this point have no thoughts of any recording on a 32 track, "24 is enough, it takes a lot of pushing up and down and can get complicated. I think you have to keep things within reason!"
No synthesizers! No pitch correctors!